5m Books have published ‘Behavioural Problems in Rabbits’ which aims to help those who cares for rabbits to understand what influences their behaviour, diagnose the specific causes of problem behaviour, and construct an achievable plan for change.

Author of 'Behavioural Problems in Rabbits' Guen Bradbury says: “Did you have a rabbit when you were a child? What do you remember about it? Chances are, your memories are not particularly positive. And that’s not surprising – over forty percent of the 1.5 million UK rabbits show at least one behaviour that their owners would like to change. That’s an awful lot of rabbits! Many unwanted behaviours cause problems. They can both be caused by, and cause, deficiencies in a rabbit’s welfare. When these behaviours are not addressed, owners are likely to spend less time with their pets, respond less quickly to health deterioration, and be less motivated to improve their rabbit’s quality of life. Owners want rabbits that are happy and well behaved. In order to achieve this, they need to meet the needs of their rabbits, have reasonable expectations, teach the rabbits how to behave, and interact with the rabbits appropriately. But this knowledge is not intuitive.”

She continues: “For many years, I’ve been helping rabbit owners around the world with behaviour problems in their pets. In my consultations, I help individual owners to solve specific problems, but I can’t reach all rabbit owners individually. This book releases the tools to everyone. You can find out what rabbits need, why they behave in the way they do, and what owners should and shouldn’t expect from pet rabbits. We’ve learned a lot about what pet rabbits need from their environment, diet, and general husbandry. I hope that this book will help vets, nurses, rehoming centres, and owners to understand better what pet rabbits actually want."

Guen Bradbury is a veterinary surgeon, pharmacologist, and innovation consultant at Innovia Technology. Additionally, she lectures and teaches at the University of Cambridge and runs a teleconsultancy service giving advice on behavioural problems in pet rabbits.